


His Sister's Son

by TheGrammarHawk



Series: Verdant Flower, Crimson Wind [5]
Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Alternate Universe - Twins, Gen, Hopeful Ending, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Introspection, Light Angst, Post-Canon, Post-War, Verdant Flower/Crimson Wind, the death referenced is byleth's mother so nothing new
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-10
Updated: 2020-02-10
Packaged: 2021-02-28 01:14:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,110
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22645477
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheGrammarHawk/pseuds/TheGrammarHawk
Summary: Byleth has trouble processing his emotions after his sister nearly dies giving birth to a child in a situation that hits far too close to home.
Relationships: Minor or Background Relationship(s), My Unit | Byleth & My Unit | Byleth, My Unit | Byleth/Claude von Riegan
Series: Verdant Flower, Crimson Wind [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1586869
Comments: 2
Kudos: 39





	His Sister's Son

**Author's Note:**

> Both twins are named Byleth - male is older, female is younger.  
> I actually have plots for more surrounding Nordan, but it seems I'm writing them a little out of order! There will at some point be the actual story of his birth that will make this little thing make sense, but for now, it is what it is. All you need to know was something went wrong during childbirth, and in an attempt to fix it, Byleth used a Divine Pulse in order to have more time to let people know what needed to be done to prevent any death. It works, but still costs her her health.  
> Warnings: referenced childbirth (obvi), mentions of blood.  
> -Xavier, Riviera, and Nordan are the children of Claude and Byleth, Amalric is one of Byleth and Edelgard's children.

Night had fallen. Edelgard and Hubert had already left for Adrestia, unable to spare any more time in Leicester than they already had. There was still politics to attend to, meetings and work that did not wait for the world to get its act together. They couldn’t afford to stay.

Byleth couldn’t afford to  _ leave _ . He had no hand in politics, he had nothing to get back to aside from his children, and while he missed his children, of  _ course  _ he did, especially so young at three and one, but-

_ He couldn’t leave her. _

They had all said she would be stable, yet Marianne was still hesitant to leave.  _ Flayn  _ was hesitant to leave. If the healer he trusted most and the  _ saint  _ of healing magics were not comfortable leaving Byleth to the household nursemaids, then Byleth sure as hell wasn’t going to leave his sister’s side either.

It was a good thing that the Riegan household was large. Byleth and Claude had their own room, and the young twins theirs, leaving Flayn to take a guest room while Alois and Byleth shared another. Marianne insisted she would stay an inn nearby, since she and her family had already been visiting in Derdriu before they arrived; Seteth had left for the monastery with only a few minutes of persuasion.

Then, of course, there was the nursery. As late as it was, Byleth was drawn to the quiet room. Alois had insisted he come and get some rest, but he was still restless. The memories of the day’s events were still spinning in his mind.

He had spent the past thirteen  _ years  _ desperately trying to keep his sister safe, and she had nearly died without him ever knowing. Riviera and Xavier’s birth had been long, but on time and relatively easygoing, how could he ever have known that this one would be so different?

The baby boy was tiny. The twins had been small, being twins, but the new baby was even smaller. Now that he was all cleaned up and no longer so pink-faced from the ordeal of being born, his skin was a clear darker tone like his father’s. Now-dry wisps and curls of thick teal hair covered his head, despite how early he had come.

Byleth wanted to hate the baby. After all, it was the reason that his sister lay prone in her bed just down the hall.

(Had Claude fallen asleep yet? Byleth wouldn’t have been surprised if he was still reading, even if he was in bed, exhausted as he had seemed when the ruckus died down. He couldn’t blame him.)

When he had heard the nursemaid claim his sister had died… when another said that she was in distress… when he saw all of the blood from where she had been cut into, the bruising along her chest from panicked mouth-to-mouth… when Claude crumpled at her side, her being so small in his hold…

Somehow, seeing her on Sothis’ throne had been worse, seeing her curled up in her seat and crying, blaming herself.  _ Blaming herself _ , and for what? She had managed to save not only her own life, but her infant’s, and she still blamed herself for whatever possible consequences were to be had for using a divine pulse, using Sothis’ powers so willingly, while delivering her child?

A child that did not cry at birth, not with the cord about his neck. A child that had what had once been their hair, the same color that Amalric bore too. A child that hadn’t been born with a heartbeat, only for Flayn to manage to revive him.

_ This  _ was how their mother had died. To think that it had almost claimed his sister, as well…

It was hard for Byleth to  _ not  _ resent his newest nephew. If this was how Rhea had felt when she lost her mother…

Byleth could begin to understand the lengths she went to. He’d do the same for Byleth.

Still, when the little boy kicked his teeny feet and started to work up a fuss, Byleth found himself picking him up, sternly holding him to his chest in hope it would quiet the babe.

“You will  _ not  _ wake your parents up. You’ve done enough to them today.”

The cries lessened somewhat, enough that Byleth did not think his sister and brother-in-law would wake. Even so, it was still such a  _ relief  _ to hear the child cry.

Nordan. That had been the name that was given to him. Nordan von Riegan - Nordan Fronz Eisner. Third born to the king of Almyra, rulers of the Leicester Monarchy, archbishop of Fódlan.

He had come closer to killing his mother than almost any other wretch in Fódlan’s history.

And still…

Byleth sighed, pressing the slightest of kisses to the baby’s crown. Nordan had not asked for this, just as he and Byleth had not asked for the circumstance of their birth. Perhaps their birth could have, at the least, been prevented by Rhea refusing to meddle - by allowing them to  _ die _ at birth, as they should have - but just as them, Nordan had lived thanks to Sothis in one way or another.

Just as Sothis’ heart had brought life to him and his sister, his sister’s heart had allowed her to use Sothis’ powers to save her son, to save  _ herself _ .

In the end, how could he choose to hold a grudge against his nephew? Perhaps Byleth had wasted her already spent energy on using a Pulse, perhaps she nearly sealed her fated death by giving her son a chance to survive, but it wasn’t as though she was doing this solely to gain the life of her child.

If she hadn’t turned back the clock, it was still more than likely that she would have died in childbirth. Byleth could blame almost anyone else, including himself, for not being near his sister when she needed them most.

He could not blame his sister, and he could not blame her son.

Byleth replaced Nordan in his bassinet, staring down at him passively as the baby stared back with still-blue eyes.

“You must grow up a healthy child. You must grow up happy, you must laugh, you must cry, you must  _ feel _ . Prove your mother wrong, show her that nothing ill came from her use of divine powers. Concoct poisons like your father, ride wyverns, beat your siblings in every game imaginable like he would; pale at heights, fumble through prose, hug often and tightly like your mother: be  _ human _ . Do not appeal to Sothis’ heart, Nordan.”

Byleth carefully smoothed down the baby’s curls.

“Turn to  _ Byleth’s _ heart instead, whatever of it remains.”

**Author's Note:**

> They hope so desperately that Nordan will grow up normal, and for the most part, he does. He's not emotionless, he doesn't hear Sothis at all, despite the pulse meddling with him - it isn't until he's ten that anything goes wrong, but that's a story for a different day. :) Hope you enjoyed, if so, leave a comment! i know this is mad niche so if you have questions i'm always here to answer!


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